KUALA LUMPUR (May 10): Malaysia's state-owned oil and gas giant Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has denied being involved in any "exploratory talks" with Hong Kong-based Ocean Wind International Industrial Ltd for possible cooperation on renewable energy production.
"PETRONAS wishes to state that the news reports are false and that it has not had any discussion, exploratory or otherwise, with the Hong Kong-based party.
"PETRONAS remains committed to pursuing its renewable and new energy strategies, which it has developed as part of its Board and shareholder-sanctioned sustainability agenda," it said in a statement today.
Petronas was referring to news reports on a statement issued by Ocean Wind last Thursday (May 6), which claimed that a confirmed second round of exploratory talks with senior executives of Petronas will be held next month (June 2021) after a "positive and fruitful" meeting in April, during which both parties discussed Petronas' future renewable energy production transition plans.
According to the statement, Ocean Wind is thought to be keen on leveraging Petronas' experience with offshore fossil fuel production, citing Petronas' deepwater floating platform expertise as being highly compatible with that of Ocean Wind's floating wind power turbines.
"We believe that we can save Petronas millions in research and development expenditure by combining our Poseidon turbine solution with their mooring and ballast technology by significantly reducing the amount of time they'd need to present a viable offshore wind power generation offering," Ocean Wind chairman and chief executive officer Jeremy Fitzroy claimed in the statement.
In its latest activity outlook report published late last year, Petronas said with the rise in renewable energy, industry players must continue to acquire new capabilities and knowledge through digital and analytics, technology adoption, and creative partnerships to unlock new opportunities and move ahead with courage into a sustainable future.